On 11 November 2020, the Qingdao Branch of the Open University of China (OUC) and the New Future Online Education Group signed an agreement to cooperate in establishing the Entrepreneurship and Small Business (ESB) certification program.
Yue Guofeng, secretary of the Qingdao-branch Party Committee, and Huang Guizhou, chairman and president of the Group, as well as director of the ESB China Management Centre, attended the ceremony and delivered speeches. Sun Mingming, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and vice president of the Qingdao Branch, signed the agreement on behalf of the university.
Yue Guofeng pointed out that the Opinions on the Implementation of Leading High-quality Development with Higher Level of Opening Up, deliberated and passed on 24 October in the Eighth Plenary Session of the 12th Municipal Party Committee, proposed enhancements to Qingdao Radio and Television University (Qingdao RTVU). For the Qingdao Branch, which the municipal government considers mainly responsible for education in innovation and entrepreneurship, this is a mission the municipal Party Committee has entrusted to it, and a historical opportunity for it to grow. It is also a "major test" for the university to implement the deployment of the municipal Party Committee, and serve the economic and social development of Qingdao through promotion of entrepreneurship. In recent years, Qingdao RTVU has been exploring models of entrepreneurship education suited to the city, and targeted students for entrepreneurship education, incubation and services based on their aptitudes. The university has taken steps to help entrepreneurs and promote innovation in Qingdao. He expressed the hope that the two sides would, after signing the agreement, continue to deepen their cooperation, to explore and innovate, and create a network to enable exchange on behalf of the development of entrepreneurship in Qingdao.
Huang Guizhou said that innovation and entrepreneurship education is the best means to implement the guiding principle of "fostering virtues through moral education" and is also the core of a good education, which is of great significance to promoting entrepreneurship. The signing marks the start of all-round and in-depth cooperation between Qingdao RTVU and the New Future Online Education Group in the areas of ESB international certification, teacher training, and curriculum resources, helping promote the internationalisation and standardisation of entrepreneurship and innovation education at the university.
It was pointed out at the ceremony that this cooperation will help the Qingdao Branch introduce high-quality curriculum resources and enhance teaching related to innovation and entrepreneurship. It will also contribute to the introduction of a system for evaluating innovation and entrepreneurship that meets international and domestic standards, and be conducive to helping prospective entrepreneurs “think outside the box”. At the same time, in order to further promote the OUC Comprehensive Reform Plan, and adapt to the “opening up” of Qingdao, the university will emphasise the special features of entrepreneurship education via more open operations, by building a high-level Open University, and promoting continuing education as a basis for providing Qingdao with skilled workers.
During the ceremony, the New Future Online Education Group donated ESB Business Foundation flipped-classroom teaching courseware to the Qingdao Branch.
Shi Jianjun, member of the Party Committee and vice president of the Qingdao Branch, presented Huang Guizhou along with Chen Jinsong, vice president of New Future Online Education Group, and Chao Jinpeng, executive general manager of the group’s Operations Support Centre, certificates naming them "Entrepreneurship Coaches".
By Qingdao Branch